The present invention relates to a grommet used for laying down a wire such as a wiring harness in a vehicle.
In a vehicle, when a wire such as a wiring harness is laid into an interior of a passenger compartment from an engine compartment, the wire needs to pass through a dash panel. In addition, when the wire is laid into the vehicle, the wire needs to pass through a floor panel. A grommet is used not only to hold the wire at such a location where the wire passes through the dash panel or the floor panel but also to secure waterproofing and soundproofing properties thereat.
FIG. 17 shows a conventional grommet 100 described in Patent Document 1. The grommet 100 has a body 120 through which an wire insertion hole 110 passes in an axial direction, and an wire 200 is inserted through the wire insertion hole 110. The body 120 is formed of a rubber in whole and has a thick panel fitting portion 130 and thin wire insertion ports 140, 150 which are formed at axial end portions of the panel fitting portion 130 and into which the wire 200 is inserted.
A first engagement groove 160 and a second engagement groove 170 are formed on an outer face of the panel fitting portion 130 at a substantially central portion in the axial direction. The two engagement grooves 160, 170 are formed as an annular depression which extends along the full circumference of the outer face of the panel fitting portion 130. These engagement grooves 160, 170 correspond to two types of panel holes having different diameters which are formed in a panel 250, and by the engagement grooves 160, 170 being fitted in the panel, the grommet 100 is fixed in the panel.
The first engagement groove 160 is formed in the panel fitting portion 130 in a position where a distance of the first engagement groove 160 from an axis of the wire insertion hole 110 is longer than that of the second engagement groove 170. The first engagement groove 160 corresponds to a panel hole having a larger hole diameter. The second engagement groove 170 is formed in a position where a distance of the second engagement groove 170 from an axis of the wire insertion hole 110 is shorter than that of the first engagement groove 160 and hence corresponds to a panel hole having a smaller panel hole diameter. The two engagement grooves 160, 170 have different fitting directions in which they are fitted in the panel 250. The first engagement groove 160 is fitted in the panel hole in the panel 250 from a direction indicated by an arrow M, while the second engagement groove 170 is fitted in the panel hole in the panel 250 from a direction indicated by an arrow N which is an opposite direction to the direction M.
In the construction described above, the grommet 100 which holds the wire 200 inserted therethrough is inserted into the panel hole in the panel 250 from the direction M or the direction N to match the hole diameter of the panel hole, whereby the grommet 100 can be fixed in the panel 250. Namely, in the construction shown in FIG. 17, by forming the two engagement grooves 160, 170 which are situated at the different heights and are fitted from the different directions on the panel fitting portion 130, the single grommet 100 is allowed to deal with the plurality of panel holes having the different hole diameters.    [Patent Document] Japanese Patent Publication Number 11-336953